Press Release

Transforming Crisis Into New Gifts of Life

Their stories of crisis point the way: People are creating lives of well-being, even transformation, in the midst of catastrophe.

In his new book, Crisis to Creation:Our Power of Choice, author/counselor Jim Macartney offers a paradigm shifting perspective and essential tools to open opportunities for growth and healing inherent within any crisis.

Building on observations of his own life challenges and his 20 years working with others through crisis, Macartney follows the journeys of dozens of people as they faced immovable obstructions such as a terminal illness or other catastrophic life events:

Joan, a nurse who suffered brain damage in a small plane crash that killed her beloved husband, could grasp neither his death nor her own catastrophic disability.

Wayne, a marine mechanic, was told to put his affairs in order by his doctors after his second diagnosis of leukemia.

Gary, a physicist, suffered from undiagnosed problems for years, until he was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and given two years to live.

A clear pattern was discerned among this group, a pattern taking them down a path Macartney calls the Crisis to Creation Cycle. The fact that some people flourish in the wake of crisis seems counterintuitive, but, in fact, it is supported by recent research into what is called “Post-Traumatic Growth.”

Lingering effects from two open-heart surgeries, a near-death experience (NDE), and temporal lobe epilepsy have forced Jim to redirect his own life’s work. As he says in the book’s Epilogue, “every day presents an opportunity to choose to be constrained by my limitations or actively step into new possibilities.”